1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computerized relational database systems and, more particularly, this invention relates to a system for interactive documentation of a database framework including entities, attributes and schema of data in the database.
2. Description of the Related Art
All database management systems store and manipulate information. The relational approach to database management represents all information as "tables". A "database" is a collection of tables, each table having rows and columns. In a relational database, the rows of a table represent records (collections of information about separate items) and the columns represent fields (particular attributes of a record). In conducting searches, a relational database matches information from a field (column) in one table with information from a corresponding field (column) of another table to produce a third table that combines requested data from both tables.
All database management systems have some mechanism for getting at the information stored in a database. Such a mechanism involves specifying data retrieval operations, often called "queries", to search the database and then retrieve and display the requested information. However, in order to specify a query, a user must first understand the types of information available in the database, especially in a complex database framework, such as an engineering database. Typically, the user must have a thorough understanding of the database already or must spend considerable time learning, reviewing and documenting the descriptions and definitions of the information available in the database and the set-up of the database framework. Prior methods have included periodic printouts and distribution of database definitions, entities and attributes which is cumbersome and time consuming and which may not give the user the specific descriptions or definitions needed by the user.
Therefore, a method is needed for simple and interactive documentation and review of a relational database framework wherein each individual user can easily review the specific information needed. A documenting system is needed which also allows for efficient up-to-date modifications of the database framework information as the entities, attributes and schema of the database change.